Battle scene on the western front during World War I.

1915 German U-boats sink the Lusitania, and 1,198 people die. 1914 Hollywood, California, becomes 1915 Alexander Graham the center of movie Bell makes first transcon- 1916 Woodrow Wilson production in the U.S. tinental telephone call. is reelected president.

USA 1914 WORLD 1914 1915 1916

1914 Archduke Franz 1914 Germany declares 1915 Albert Einstein 1916 The battles of Ferdinand and his wife war on Russia and France. proposes his general Verdun and the Somme are assassinated. Great Britain declares war theory of relativity. claim millions of lives. on Germany and Austria- Hungary.

576 CHAPTER 19 INTERACT WITH HISTORY

The year is 1917. A bitter war is raging in Europe—a war that has been called a threat to civilization. At home many people are urging America to wake up and get involved, while others are calling for the country to isolate itself and avoid the fight. Do you think America should enter the war? Examine the Issues • Is it right for America to intervene in foreign conflicts? • When American lives are threat- ened, how should the government respond? • Should America go to war to make the world “safe for democracy”?

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1918 Congress passes 1917 The Selective Service the Sedition Act. Act sets up the draft. 1919 Congress approves 1918 President Wilson the Nineteenth 1917 The United States proposes the League of Amendment, granting declares war on Germany. Nations. women the vote.

1917 1918 1919

1917 Russia 1918 The Bolsheviks establish 1919 A worldwide withdraws from a Communist regime in Russia. influenza epidemic the war. kills over 30 million. 1918 The First World War ends.

The First World War 577 World War I Begins

MAIN IDEA WHY IT MATTERS NOW Terms & Names

As World War I intensified, The United States remains •nationalism •no man’s land the United States was forced involved in European and •militarism •trench warfare to abandon its neutrality. world affairs. •Allies •Lusitania •Central Powers •Zimmermann •Archduke Franz note Ferdinand

One American's Story

It was about 1:00 A.M.on April 6, 1917, and the members of the U.S. House of Representatives were tired. For the past 15 hours they had been debating President Wilson’s request for a declaration of war against Germany. There was a breathless hush as Jeannette Rankin of Montana, the first woman elected to Congress, stood up. Rankin declared, “I want to stand by my country but I can- not vote for war. I vote no.” Later she reflected on her action.

A PERSONAL VOICE JEANNETTE RANKIN “ I believe that the first vote I cast was the most significant vote and a most significant act on the part of women, because women are going to have to stop war. I felt at the time that the first woman

[in Congress] should take the first stand, that the first time the first woman had a chance to say no to war she should say it.” ▼ —quoted in Jeannette Rankin: First Lady in Congress Jeannette Rankin was the only member of the After much debate as to whether the United States should join the fight, House to vote against Congress voted in favor of U.S. entry into World War I. With this decision, the U.S. entering both the government abandoned the neutrality that America had maintained for World War I and World three years. What made the United States change its policy in 1917? War II.

Causes of World War I

Although many Americans wanted to stay out of the war, several factors made American neutrality difficult to maintain. As an industrial and imperial power, the United States felt many of the same pressures that had led the nations of Europe into devastating warfare. Historians generally cite four long-term causes of the First World War: nationalism, imperialism, militarism, and the formation of a system of alliances.

578 CHAPTER 19 NATIONALISM Throughout the 19th century, politics in the Western world were deeply influenced by the concept of nationalism—a devotion to the interests and culture of one’s nation. Often, nationalism led to competitive and antago- nistic rivalries among nations. In this atmosphere of competition, many feared Germany’s growing power in Europe. In addition, various ethnic groups resented domination by others and longed for their nations to become independent. Many ethnic groups looked to larger nations for protection. Russia regarded itself as the protector of Europe’s Slavic peoples, no matter which government they lived under. Among these Slavic peo- ples were the Serbs. Serbia, located in the Balkans, was an independent nation, but millions of ethnic Serbs lived under the rule of Austria-Hungary. As a result, Russia and Austria-Hungary were rivals for influence over Serbia. IMPERIALISM For many centuries, European nations had been building MAIN IDEA empires, slowly extending their economic and political control over various peo- Analyzing ples of the world. Colonies supplied the European imperial powers with raw mat- Causes erials and provided markets for manufactured goods. As Germany industrialized, A How did it competed with France and Britain in the contest for colonies. A nationalism and imperialism lead MILITARISM Empires were expensive to build and to defend. The growth of to conflict in nationalism and imperialism led to increased military spending. Because each Europe? nation wanted stronger armed forces than those of any potential enemy, the imperial powers followed a policy of militarism—the development of armed forces and their use as a tool of diplomacy. By 1890 the strongest nation on the European continent was Germany, which had set up an army reserve system that drafted and trained young men. Britain was not initially alarmed by Germany’s military expansion. As an island nation, Britain had always relied on its navy for defense and protection of its shipping routes— and the British navy was the strongest in the world. However, in 1897, Wilhelm II, Germany’s kaiser, or emperor, decided that his nation should also become a major sea power in order to compete more successfully against the British. Soon British and German shipyards competed to build the largest battleships and destroyers. Vocabulary France, Italy, Japan, and the United States quickly joined the naval arms race. alliance: a formal ALLIANCE SYSTEM By 1907 there were two major defense alliances in Europe. agreement or union between The Triple Entente, later known as the Allies, consisted of France, Britain, and nations Russia. The Triple Alliance consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. ▼ German Emperor Wilhelm II (center) marches with two of his generals, Hindenburg (left) and Ludendorff, during World War I.

579 Germany and Austria-Hungary, together with the Ottoman Empire—an empire of mostly Middle Eastern lands controlled by the Turks—were later known as the Central Powers. The alliances provided a measure of international security because nations were reluctant to disturb the balance of power. As it turned out, a spark set off a major conflict.

An Assassination Leads to War

That spark flared in the Balkan Peninsula, which was known as “the powder keg of Europe.” In addition to the ethnic rivalries among the Balkan peoples, Europe’s leading powers had interests there. Russia wanted access to the Mediterranean Sea. Germany wanted a rail link to the Ottoman Empire. Austria-Hungary, which had taken control of Bosnia in 1878, accused Serbia of subverting its rule over Bosnia. The “powder keg” was ready to explode. In June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, visited the Bosnian capital Sarajevo. As OOWW TTHHEENN the royal entourage drove through the city, Serbian nation- NN alist Gavrilo Princip stepped from the crowd and shot the Archduke and his wife Sophie. Princip was a member of the Black Hand, an organization promoting Serbian national- ism. The assassinations touched off a diplomatic crisis. On July 28, Austria-Hungary declared what was expected to be a short war against Serbia. The alliance system pulled one nation after another into MAIN IDEA the conflict. On August 1, Germany, obligated by treaty Analyzing to support Austria-Hungary, declared war on Russia. On Effects B August 3, Germany declared war on Russia’s ally France. After Why were so CRISIS IN THE BALKANS many European Germany invaded Belgium, Britain declared war on Germany nations pulled into After World War I, Bosnia became and Austria-Hungary. The Great War had begun. B the conflict? part of a country that eventually became known as Yugoslavia. Although Yugoslavia included vari- ous religious and ethnic groups, The Fighting Starts the government was dominated On August 3, 1914, Germany invaded Belgium, following by Serbs. In 1991, Yugoslavia broke apart, a strategy known as the Schlieffen Plan. This plan called and Bosnia declared indepen- for a holding action against Russia, combined with a quick dence in 1992. However, Serbs drive through Belgium to Paris; after France had fallen, the wanted Bosnia to remain part of two German armies would defeat Russia. As German Serbian-controlled Yugoslavia. troops swept across Belgium, thousands of civilians fled in A bloody civil war broke out. This war became notorious for terror. In Brussels, the Belgian capital, an American war Vocabulary the mass murder and deportation correspondent described the first major refugee crisis of refugee: a person of Bosnian Muslims, a process the 20th century. who flees in known as “ethnic cleansing.” In search of 1995, the United States helped protection or negotiate a cease-fire. A PERSONAL VOICE RICHARD HARDING DAVIS shelter, as in But peace in the Balkans did “ [We] found the side streets blocked with their carts. times of war or religious not last. In the late 1990s, Into these they had thrown mattresses, or bundles of persecution Albanians in the province of grain, and heaped upon them were families of three Kosovo also tried to break away generations. Old men in blue smocks, white-haired and from Serbia. Serbia’s violent bent, old women in caps, the daughters dressed in their response, which included the “ethnic cleansing” of Albanians, one best frock and hat, and clasping in their hands all prompted NATO to intervene. that was left to them, all that they could stuff into a pil- Today, peacekeepers in the low-case or flour-sack. . . . Heart-broken, weary, hungry, Balkans struggle to control the they passed in an unending caravan.” continuing ethnic violence. —from Hooray for Peace, Hurrah for War

580 CHAPTER 19 Europe at the Start of World War I

N W

E S NORWAY British Blockade SWEDEN Petrograd (St. Petersburg) Tannenberg, Aug. 1914 Germans stop Russian advance. Moscow North ATLANTIC IRELAND E a DENMARK s (Br.) Sea t 50 N e RUSSIA ° r n

a F e r ic S o GREAT Balt n

Tannenberg t BRITAIN O

NETHERLANDS c

t London .

Berlin 1 9

OCEAN 1 Brussels 7 May 1915 GERMANY BELGIUM Lusitania sunk.

Paris LUXEMBOURG

Vienna Bay of SWITZERLAND AUSTRIA- Biscay FRANCE HUNGARY

40°N A d r ROMANIA ia PORTUGAL t Sarajevo Black Sea ic N ITALY SERBIA K A SPAIN L Sarajevo, June 1914 MONTENEGRO A BULGARIA S B Archduke Franz Ferdinand Rome ea S U L A I N Constantinople is assassinated. ALBANIA N (Istanbul) E A e P g S e e a 10°W a n Gallipoli OTTOMAN GREECE M e d i t e r r a n e a EMPIRE 0° n

S e a The Western Front 1914–1916 Gallipoli, April 1915–Jan. 1916 Allied forces defeated in bid to establish a supply route to Russia. l e , 1st battle, Sept. 1914 n A Marne n Allies stop German advance on Paris. a NETHERLANDS C h 20°E h , 2nd battle, May 1915 Allied Powers, 1916 l i s B Ypres n g Germans use chemical weapons for E the first time. Central Powers, 1916 B Brussels Neutral countries Verdun, Feb.–July 1916 BELGIUM use C French hold the line in longest battle German submarine activity Me of the war. S om m , 1st battle, July–Nov. 1916 Battle e D Somme D Disastrous British offensive. LUXEMBOURG 0 250 500 miles F German troop movement ro n t on Ju 0 250 500 kilometers e ly Allied troop movement is Aisn O e 1, 1916

M C Metz e a in r GEOGRAPHY SKILLBUILDER A n e, h e c R Paris an M 1. Location About how many miles S v e e F u Lunéville in art d GERMANY e hest n a s Germa e separated the city of Paris from Sept. 5, 1914 M o s German forces at the point of their e 0 50 100 miles N l le closest approach? 0 50 100 kilometers 2. Place Consider the geographical W E FRANCE location of the Allies in relation to the Central Powers. What advantage S SWITZERLAND might the Allies have had?

The First World War 581 Unable to save Belgium, the Allies retreated to the Marne River in France, where they halted the German advance in September 1914. After struggling to outflank each other’s armies, both sides dug in for a long siege. By the spring of 1915, two parallel systems of deep, rat-infested trenches crossed France from the Belgian coast to the Swiss Alps. German soldiers occupied one set of trenches, Allied soldiers the other. There were three main kinds of trenches—front line, sup- port, and reserve. Soldiers spent a period of time in each kind of trench. Dugouts, or underground rooms, were used as officers’ quarters and command posts. MAIN IDEA Between the trench complexes lay “no man’s land”—a barren expanse of mud Drawing pockmarked with shell craters and filled with barbed wire. Periodically, the sol- Conclusions diers charged enemy lines, only to be mowed down by machine gun fire. C C Why do you The scale of slaughter was horrific. During the First Battle of the Somme— think soldiers were rotated in which began on July 1, 1916, and lasted until mid-November—the British suf- the trenches? fered 60,000 casualties the first day alone. Final casualties totaled about 1.2 mil- lion, yet only about seven miles of ground changed hands. This bloody trench warfare, in which armies fought for mere yards of ground, continued for over three years. Elsewhere, the fighting was just as devastating and inconclusive.

Trench Warfare

A Front line trench B Support trench Artillery fire “softened up” resistance before C Reserve trench an infantry attack. D Enemy trench

Communication trenches Barbed wire connected the three entanglements kinds of trenches.

C

B “No Man’s Land” (from 25 yards A to a mile wide) Dugout

Saps were shallower trenches in “no man’s land,” allowing access to machine-gun nests, grenade-throwing positions, and observation posts. D

582 CHAPTER 19 Americans Question Neutrality

In 1914, most Americans saw no reason to join a struggle 3,000 miles away. The war did not threaten American lives or property. This does not mean, however, that individual Americans were indifferent to who would win the war. Public opinion was strong—but divided. DIVIDED LOYALTIES Socialists criticized the war as a capi- CONOMIC talist and imperialist struggle between Germany and England E to control markets and colonies in China, Africa, and the Middle East. Pacifists, such as lawyer and politician William Jennings Bryan, believed that war was evil and that the TRADE ALLIANCES United States should set an example of peace to the world. Maintaining neutrality proved diffi- cult for American businesses. Many Americans simply did not want their sons to expe- Trade with Germany became rience the horrors of warfare, as a hit song of 1915 conveyed. increasingly risky. Shipments were “ I didn’t raise my boy to be a soldier, often stopped by the British block- ade. In addi ion, Presiden Wilson I brought him up to be my pride and joy. t t and others spoke out against Who dares to place a musket on his shoulder, German atrocities and warned of To shoot some other mother’s darling boy?” the threat that the German Empire Millions of naturalized U.S. citizens followed the war posed to democracy. From 1912 to 1917, U.S. trade closely because they still had ties to the nations from which Vocabulary relationships with European coun- emigrate: to leave they had emigrated. For example, many Americans of tries shifted dramatically. From one’s country or German descent sympathized with Germany. Americans of 1914 on, trade with the Allies region to settle in Irish descent remembered the centuries of British oppres- quadrupled, while trade with another; to move sion in Ireland and saw the war as a chance for Ireland to Germany fell to near zero. Also, by 1917, American banks gain its independence. had loaned $2.3 billion to the On the other hand, many Americans felt close to Allies, but only $27 million to the Britain because of a common ancestry and language as well Central Powers. Many U.S. lead- as similar democratic institutions and legal systems. ers, including Treasury Secretary Germany’s aggressive sweep through Belgium increased William McAdoo, felt that American prosperity depended upon an American sympathy for the Allies. The Germans attacked Allied victory. (See trade on page civilians, destroying villages, cathedrals, R47 in the Economics Handbook.) libraries, and even hospitals. Some atrocity stories—spread by British propaganda— U.S. Exports to Europe, 1912–1917 later proved to be false, but enough proved true that one American magazine referred 2,000 to Germany as “the bully of Europe.” More important, America’s economic 1,600 ties with the Allies were far stronger than its ties with the Central Powers. Before the illions) 1,200 m war, American trade with Britain and France was more than double its trade with 800 Germany. During the first two years of the Dollars (in war, America’s transatlantic trade became 400 even more lopsided, as the Allies flooded 0 American manufacturers with orders for all 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 MAIN IDEA sorts of war supplies, including dynamite, cannon powder, submarines, copper wire Great Britain France Germany Analyzing All Other European Countries Motives and tubing, and armored cars. The United D Why did the States shipped millions of dollars of war SKILLBUILDER Interpreting Graphs United States supplies to the Allies, but requests kept 1. By how much did o al U.S. expor s o Europe begin to favor t t t t rise or fall be ween 1914 and 1917? Britain and coming. By 1915, the United States was t France? experiencing a labor shortage. D 2. What trends does the graph show before the start of the war, and during the war?

The First World War 583 ▼

This image of a The War Hits Home U-boat crew machine-gunning Although the majority of Americans favored victory for the Allies rather helpless survivors than the Central Powers, they did not want to join the Allies’ fight. By o the Lusitania f 1917, however, America had mobilized for war against the Central Powers was clearly meant for two reasons: to ensure Allied repayment of debts to the United States as propaganda. In fact, U-boats and to prevent the Germans from threatening U.S. shipping. seldom lingered THE BRITISH BLOCKADE As fighting on land continued, Britain began to after an attack. make more use of its naval strength. It blockaded the German coast to pre- vent weapons and other military supplies from getting through. However, the British expanded the definition of contraband to include food. They also extended the blockade to neutral ports and mined the entire North Sea. The results were two fold. First, American ships carrying goods for Germany refused to challenge the blockade and seldom reached their desti- nation. Second, Germany found it increasingly difficult to import foodstuffs and fertilizers for crops. By 1917, famine stalked the country. An estimated 750,000 Germans starved to death as a result of the British blockade. Americans had been angry at Britain’s blockade, which threatened freedom of the seas and prevented American goods from reaching German ports. However, Germany’s response to the blockade soon outraged American public opinion. GERMAN U–BOAT RESPONSE Germany responded to the British

blockade with a counterblockade by U-boats (from Unterseeboot, the German word for a submarine). Any British or Allied ship found in the ▼

waters around Britain would be sunk—and it would not always be possi- A newspaper ad ble to warn crews and passengers of an attack. for the Lusitania One of the worst disasters occurred on May 7, 1915, when a U-boat sank the included a British liner Lusitania (lLQsG-tAPnC-E) off the southern coast of Ireland. Of the warning from the 1,198 persons lost, 128 were Americans. The Germans defended their action on German Embassy. the grounds that the liner carried ammunition. Despite Germany’s explanation, Americans became outraged with Germany because of the loss of life. American public opinion turned against Germany and the Central Powers.

584 CHAPTER 19 Despite this provocation, President Wilson ruled out a military response in favor of a sharp protest to Germany. Three months later, in August 1915, a U-boat sank another British liner, the Arabic, drowning two Americans. Again the United States protested, and this time Germany agreed not to sink any more passenger ships. But in March 1916 Germany broke its promise and torpedoed an unarmed French passenger steamer, the Sussex. The Sussex sank, and about 80 passengers, including Americans, were killed or injured. Once again the United States warned MAIN IDEA that it would break off diplomatic relations unless Germany changed its tactics. Analyzing Again Germany agreed, but there was a condition: if the United States could not Effects persuade Britain to lift its blockade against food and fertilizers, Germany would E How did the consider renewing unrestricted submarine warfare. E German U-boat campaign affect THE 1916 ELECTION In November 1916 came the U.S. presidential election. U.S. public The Democrats renominated Wilson, and the Republicans nominated Supreme opinion? Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes. Wilson campaigned on the slogan “He Kept Us Out of War.” Hughes pledged to uphold America’s right to freedom of the seas but also promised not to be too severe on Germany. The election returns shifted from hour to hour. In fact, Hughes went to bed believing he had been elected. When a reporter tried to reach him with the news of Wilson’s victory, an aide said, “The president can’t be disturbed.” “Well,” replied the reporter, “when he wakes up, tell him he’s no longer president.”

The United States Declares War ▼ Wilson campaign After the election, Wilson tried to mediate between the warring alliances. The button attempt failed. In a speech before the Senate in January 1917, the president called for “a peace without victory. . . . a peace between equals,” in which neither side would impose harsh terms on the other. Wilson hoped that all nations would join in a “league for peace” that would work to extend democracy, maintain freedom of the seas, and reduce armaments. GERMAN PROVOCATION The Germans ignored Wilson’s calls for peace. Germany’s leaders hoped to defeat Britain by resuming unrestricted submarine war- fare. On January 31 the kaiser announced that U-boats would sink all ships in British waters—hostile or neutral—on sight. Wilson was stunned. The German deci- sion meant that the United States would have to go to war. However, the president held back, saying that he would wait for “actual overt acts” before declaring war. The overt acts came. First was the Zimmermann note, a telegram from Alliances During WWI the German foreign minister to the Alliances During WWI German ambassador in Mexico that was Allies Central Powers intercepted by British agents. The Australia India Austria-Hungary telegram proposed an alliance between Belgium Italy Bulgaria Mexico and Germany and promised British Colonies Japan Germany Ottoman Empire that if war with the United States broke Canada & Montenegro Newfoundland New Zealand out, Germany would support Mexico in France Portugal MAIN IDEA recovering “lost territory in Texas, New French NorthRomania Africa & French Russia Making Mexico, and Arizona.” Next came the Colonies Serbia Inferences sinking of four unarmed American mer- Great Britain South Africa F Why did the chant ships, with a loss of 36 lives. F Greece United States Zimmermann note Finally, events in Russia removed alarm the U.S. Although not all of the countries listed government? the last significant obstacle to direct above sent troops into the war, they U.S. involvement in the war. In March, all joined the war on the Allied side at various ti es. the oppressive Russian monarchy was m

The First World War 585 replaced with a representative government. Now supporters RLD STA of American entry into the war could claim that this was a WO GE war of democracies against brutal monarchies. AMERICA ACTS A light drizzle fell on Washington on REVOLUTION IN RUSSIA April 2, 1917, as senators, representatives, ambassadors, At first, the Russians surprised members of the Supreme Court, and other guests crowd- the Germans by mobilizing rapid- ed into the Capitol building to hear President Wilson ly. Russian troops advanced deliver his war resolution. quickly into German territory but were turned back at the Battle A PERSONAL VOICE WOODROW WILSON of Tannenberg in August 1914. Throughout 1915, the Russians “ Property can be paid for; the lives of peaceful and endured defeats and continued innocent people cannot be. The present German submarine to retreat. By the end of 1915 warfare against commerce is a warfare against mankind. they had suffered about 2.5 mil- . . . We are glad . . . to fight . . . for the ultimate peace of lion casualties. The war also the world and for the liberation of its peoples. . . . The caused massive bread shortages world must be made safe for democracy. . . . We have no in Russia. Revolutionaries ousted the czar selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion. in March 1917 and established We seek no indemnities. . . . It is a fearful thing to lead a provisional government. In this great peaceful people into war. . . . But the right is November, the Bolsheviks, led by more precious than peace.” Lenin and Trotsky, overthrew the —quoted in American Voices provisional government. They set up a Communist state and sought Congress passed the resolution a few days later. With peace with the Central Powers. the hope of neutrality finally shattered, U.S. troops would follow the stream of American money and munitions that had been heading to the Allies throughout the war. But Wilson’s plea to make the world “safe for democracy” wasn’t just political pos- turing. Indeed, Wilson and many Americans truly believed that the United States had to join the war to pave the way for a future order of peace and freedom. A resolved but anxious nation held its breath as the United States prepared for war.

1. TERMS & NAMES For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance. •nationalism •Central Powers •no man’s land •Lusitania •militarism •Archduke Franz Ferdinand •trench warfare •Zimmermann note •Allies

MAIN IDEA CRITICAL THINKING 2. TAKING NOTES 3. SYNTHESIZING 5. ANALYZING ISSUES In a chart like the one shown, list Describe some ways in which Why do you think Germany the causes for the outbreak of World War I threatened the lives escalated its U-boat attacks World War I. of civilians on both sides of in 1917? Think About: the Atlantic. • Germany’s military buildup Causes of WWI 4. SUMMARIZING • the effects of the British Why were America’s ties with the blockade Allies stronger than its ties with the • Germany’s reason for using Central Powers? submarine warfare

Which was the most significant cause? Explain your answer.

586 CHAPTER 19 American Power Tips the Balance

MAIN IDEA WHY IT MATTERS NOW Terms & Names

The United States mobilized During World War I, the United •Eddie Rickenbacker •General John a large army and navy to help States military evolved into the •Selective Service J. Pershing the Allies achieve victory. powerful fighting force that it Act •Alvin York remains today. •convoy system •conscientious •American objector Expeditionary Force •armistice

One American's Story

Eddie Rickenbacker, famous fighter pilot of World War I, was well known as a racecar driver before the war. He went to France as a driver but transferred to the aviation division. He learned to fly on his own time and eventually joined the U.S. Army Air Service. Rickenbacker repeatedly fought the dreaded Flying Circus—a German air squadron led by the “Red Baron,” Manfred von Richthofen.

A PERSONAL VOICE EDDIE RICKENBACKER “ I put in six or seven hours of flying time each day. . . . My narrowest escape came at a time when I was fretting over the lack of action. . . . Guns began barking behind me, and sizzling tracers zipped by my head. . . . At least two planes were on my tail. . . . They would expect me to dive. Instead I twisted upward in a corkscrew path called a ‘chandelle.’ I guessed right. As I went up, my two attackers came down, near enough for me to see their faces. I also saw the red noses on those Fokkers [German planes]. I was up against the Flying Circus again.” —Rickenbacker: An Autobiography ACE OF ACES After engaging in 134 air battles and downing 26 Eddie Rickenbacker and enemy aircraft, Rickenbacker won fame as the Allied pilot the First World War with the most victories—“American ace of aces.”

America Mobilizes

The United States was not prepared for war. Only 200,000 men were in service when war was declared, and few officers had combat experience. Drastic measures were needed to build an army large and modern enough to make an impact in Europe.

The First World War 587 ▼ Drafted men line up for service at Camp Travis in San Antonio, Texas, around 1917.

RAISING AN ARMY To meet the government’s need for more fighting power, Congress passed the Selective Service Act in May 1917. The act required men to register with the government in order to be randomly selected for military service. By the end of 1918, 24 million men had registered under the act. Of this number, almost 3 million were called up. About 2 million troops reached Europe before the truce was signed, and three-fourths of them saw actual combat. Most of the inductees had not attend- ed high school, and about one in five was foreign-born. About 400,000 African Americans served in the armed forces. More than half of them served in France. African Vocabulary American soldiers served in segregated units and were exclud- segregated:

ed from the navy and marines. Most African Americans were separated or ▼ assigned to noncombat duties, although there were exceptions. isolated from others James Montgomery The all-black 369th Infantry Regiment saw more continuous duty on the front Flagg’s portrayal of lines than any other American regiment. Two soldiers of the 369th, Henry Uncle Sam became Johnson and Needham Roberts, were the first Americans to receive France’s the most famous highest military honor, the Croix de Guerre—the “cross of war.” recruiting poster in The eight-month training period took place partly in the United States and American history. partly in Europe. During this time the men put in 17-hour days on target prac- tice, bayonet drill, kitchen duty, and cleaning up the grounds. Since real weapons were in short supply, soldiers often drilled with fake weapons—rocks instead of hand grenades, or wooden poles instead of rifles. Although women were not allowed to enlist, the army reluctantly accepted women in the Army Corps of Nurses, but denied them army rank, pay, and ben- efits. Meanwhile, some 13,000 women accepted noncombat positions in the navy MAIN IDEA and marines, where they served as nurses, secretaries, and telephone operators, Summarizing with full military rank. A A How did the United States MASS PRODUCTION In addition to the vast army that had to be created and raise an army trained, the United States had to find a way to transport men, food, and equip- for the war? ment over thousands of miles of ocean. It was an immense task, made more dif- ficult by German submarine activity, which by early 1917 had sunk twice as much ship tonnage as the Allies had built. In order to expand its fleet, the U.S. govern- ment took four crucial steps.

588 CHAPTER 19 First, the government exempted many shipyard workers from the draft and gave others a “deferred” classification, delaying their participation in the draft. Second, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce joined in a public relations campaign to emphasize the importance of shipyard work. They distributed service flags to fam- ilies of shipyard workers, just like the flags given to families of soldiers and sailors. They also urged automobile owners to give shipyard employees rides to and from work, since streetcars were so crowded. Third, shipyards used fabrication tech- MAIN IDEA niques. Instead of building an entire ship in the yard, standardized parts were Summarizing built elsewhere and then assembled at the yard. This method reduced construc- B How did the tion time substantially. As a result, on just one day—July 4, 1918—the United United States expand its navy States launched 95 ships. Fourth, the government took over commercial and pri- so quickly? vate ships and converted them for transatlantic war use. B

America Turns the Tide

German U-boat attacks on merchant ships in the Atlantic were a serious threat to the Allied war effort. American Vice Admiral William S. Sims convinced the British to try the convoy system, in which a heavy guard of destroyers escorted merchant ships back and forth across the Atlantic in groups. By fall of 1917, shipping losses had been cut in half. World War I Convoy System The U.S. Navy also helped lay a 230-mile barrier of mines across the North Sea from Scotland to Norway. cruiser safe zone merchant ships The barrier was designed to bottle up the U-boats that sailed from German ports and keep them out of the Atlantic Ocean. By early 1918 the Germans defensive boundary found it increasingly difficult to destroyer replace their losses and to staff their fleet with trained submariners. Of enemy the almost 2 million Americans who submarine sailed to Europe during the war, only 637 were lost to U-boat attacks. FIGHTING IN EUROPE After two and a half years of fighting, the Allied forces were exhausted and demoralized. One of the main contributions that American troops made to the Allied war effort, apart from their numbers, was their freshness and enthusiasm. They were determined to hit the Germans hard. Twenty-two-year- old Joseph Douglas Lawrence, a U.S. Army lieutenant, remarked on the importance of American enthusiasm when he described his first impression of the trenches.

A PERSONAL VOICE JOSEPH DOUGLAS LAWRENCE “ I have never seen or heard of such an elaborate, complete line of defense as the British had built at this point. There was a trench with dugouts every three hundred yards from the front line in Ypres back four miles to and including Dirty Bucket. Everything was fronted with barbed wire and other entanglements. Artillery was concealed every- where. Railroad tracks, narrow and standard gauge, reached from the trenches back into the zone of supply. Nothing had been neglected to hold this line, save only one important thing, enthusiasm among the troops, and that was the purpose of our presence.” —Fighting Soldier: The AEF in 1918 Lieutenant Joseph D. Lawrence

The First World War 589 Fighting “Over There” YY PPLLAAYYEER KKEE R The American Expeditionary Force (AEF), led by General John J. Pershing, included men from widely separated parts of the country. American infantrymen were nicknamed doughboys, possibly because of the white belts they wore, which they cleaned with pipe clay, or “dough.” Most doughboys had never ventured far from the farms or small towns where they lived, and the sophisticated sights and sounds of Paris made a vivid impression. However, doughboys were also shocked by the unexpected horrors of the battlefield and astonished by the new weapons and tac- tics of modern warfare. GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING NEW WEAPONS The battlefields of World War I saw the first 1860–1948 large-scale use of weapons that would become standard in When General Pershing, the modern war. Although some of these weapons were new, oth- commander of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF), arrived ers, like the machine gun, had been so refined that they in France, he found that the Allies changed the nature of warfare. The two most innovative MAIN IDEA intended to use American troops weapons were the tank and the airplane. Together, they her- Forming simply as reinforcements. alded mechanized warfare, or warfare that relies on machines Generalizations Pershing, however, urged that the powered by gasoline and diesel engines. C C How did World AEF operate as an independent Tanks ran on caterpillar treads and were built of steel War I change the fighting force, under American nature of warfare? command. so that bullets bounced off. The British first used tanks Pershing believed in aggressive during the 1916 Battle of the Somme, but not very effec- combat and felt that three years tively. By 1917, the British had learned how to drive large of trench warfare had made the numbers of tanks through barbed wire defenses, clearing a Allies too defensive. Under path for the infantry. Pershing, American forces helped to stop the German advance, cap- The early airplanes were so flimsy that at first both sides Background turing important enemy positions. limited their use to scouting. After a while, the two sides used When the U.S. entered the war, After the war, Pershing was made tanks to fire at enemy planes that were gathering informa- its air power was General of the Armies of the tion. Early dogfights, or individual air combats, like the one weak. Then, in United States—the highest rank described by Eddie Rickenbacker, resembled duels. Pilots sat July 1917, given to an officer. in their open cockpits and shot at each other with pistols. Congress appropriated a Because it was hard to fly a plane and shoot a pistol at the hefty $675 million same time, planes began carrying mounted machine guns. to build an air But the planes’ propeller blades kept getting in the way of the bullets. Then the force. Germans introduced an interrupter gear that permitted the stream of bullets to avoid the whirring blades.

ScienceScience

TECHNOLOGY AT WAR Both sides in World War I used new technology to attack more soldiers from greater distances than ever before. Aircraft and long-range guns were even used to fire on civilian targets—libraries, cathedrals, and city districts. The biggest guns could shell a city from 75 miles. Machine Guns Firepower increased to 600 rounds per minute.

Airships and Airplanes One of the most famous WWI planes, the British Sopwith Camel, had a front-mounted machine gun for “dogfights.” Planes were also loaded with bombs, as were the floating gas-filled “airships” called zeppelins.

590 CHAPTER 19 Meanwhile, airplanes were built to travel faster and carry heavy bomb loads. By 1918 the British had built up a strategic bomber force of 22,000 planes with which to attack German weapons factories and army bases. Observation balloons were used extensively by both sides in the war in Europe. Balloons were so important strategically that they were often protected by aircraft flying close by, and they became prime targets for Rickenbacker and other ace pilots.

The War Introduces New Hazards

The new weapons and tactics of World War I led to horrific injuries and hazards. The fighting men were surrounded by filth, lice, rats, and polluted water that caused dysentery. They inhaled poison gas and smelled the stench of decaying bodies. They suffered from lack of sleep. Constant bombardments and other expe- riences often led to battle fatigue and “shell shock,” a term coined during World War I to describe a complete emotional collapse from which many never recovered. Physical problems included a disease called trench foot, caused by standing in cold wet trenches for long periods of time without changing into dry socks MAIN IDEA or boots. First the toes would turn red or blue, then they would become numb, Analyzing and finally they would start to rot. The only solution was to amputate the toes, Effects and in some cases the entire foot. A painful infection of the gums and throat, D What were called trench mouth, was also common among the soldiers. D the physical and Red Cross ambulances, often staffed by American volunteers, carried the psychological effects of this new wounded from the battlefield to the hospital. An American nurse named Florence kind of warfare? Bullard recounted her experience in a hospital near the front in 1918.

A PERSONAL VOICE FLORENCE BULLARD “ The Army is only twelve miles away from us and only the wounded that are too severely injured to live to be carried a little farther are brought here. . . . Side by side I have Americans, English, Scotch, Irish, and French, and apart in the cor- ners are Boche [Germans]. They have to watch each other die side by side. I am sent for everywhere—in the . . . operating-room, the dressing-room, and back again to the rows of men. . . . The cannon goes day and night and the shells are breaking over and around us. . . . I have had to write many sad letters to American mothers. I wonder if it will ever end.” —quoted in Over There: The Story of America’s First Great Overseas Crusade

In fact, the end was near, as German forces mounted a final offensive.

Antiaircraft Gun Tanks Tanks, like this French light tank, were used to “mow down” barbed wire and soldiers.

Poison Gas A yellow-green chlorine fog sickened, suffocated, burned, and blinded its victims. Gas masks became standard issue.

The First World War 591 5°E

North Sea Allied Victories, 1917–1918 Allied Powers Central Powers 50°N Neutral countries N GREAT BRITAIN l German offensive, ne W an NETHERLANDS Mar.–July 1918 Ch E Ypres, 3rd battle, July–Nov. 1917 Armistice line, Allied victory costs over half a Nov. 11, 1918 S million casualties. lish Battle Eng Brussels R h Lille i n S Arras e 0 50 100 miles o BELGIUM m Cologne m Meuse e 0 50 100 kilometers Cantigny, May 1918 U.S. troops lle fill gaps between French and British se GERMANY Laon Sedan o S Compiègne M lines during German offensive. e Aisne in se LUXEMBOURG e Oi Meuse-Argonne,

Paris M Sept.–Nov. 1918 American AUSTRIA– a r n advance helps end the war. Château-Thierry, June 1918 e Metz HUNGARY U.S. troops help stop the ARGONNE St. Mihiel, Sept. 1918 German advance on Paris. FRANCE FOREST eLunéville s Pershing leads American u e

M army to victory. GEOGRAPHY SKILLBUILDER Marne, 2nd battle, July–Aug. 1918 1. Location Did the Germans achieve their The turning point of the war. Allies 45°N goal of capturing Paris in their March 1918 advance steadily after defeating offensive? Why or why not? the Germans. 2. Place What geographical feature of SWITZERLAND 5°W northern France made it particularly well suited to trench warfare?

American Troops Go on the Offensive

When Russia pulled out of the war in 1917, the Germans shifted their armies from the eastern front to the western front in France. By May they were within 50 miles of Paris. The Americans arrived just in time to help stop the German advance at Cantigny in France. Several weeks later, U.S. troops played a major role in throw- ing back German attacks at Château-Thierry and Belleau Wood. In July and MAIN IDEA August, they helped win the Second Battle of the Marne. The tide had turned Drawing against the Central Powers. In September, U.S. soldiers began to mount offensives Conclusions against the Germans at Saint-Mihiel and in the Meuse-Argonne area. E E How did American forces AMERICAN WAR HERO During the fighting in the Meuse-Argonne help the Allies area, one of America’s greatest war heroes, Alvin York, became famous. win the war? A redheaded mountaineer and blacksmith from Tennessee, York sought exemption as a conscientious objector, a person who opposes warfare on moral grounds, pointing out that the Bible says, “Thou shalt not kill.” York eventually decided that it was morally acceptable to fight if the cause was just. On October 8, 1918, armed only with a rifle and a revolver, York killed 25 Germans and—with six other doughboys—captured 132 prisoners. General Pershing called him the outstanding soldier of the AEF, while Marshal Foch, the commander of Allied forces in Europe, described his feat as “the greatest thing accomplished by any private soldier of all “ Bullets were the armies of Europe.” For his heroic acts, York was promoted to sergeant cracking just and became a celebrity when he returned to the United States. over my head.” THE COLLAPSE OF GERMANY On November 3, 1918, Austria- SERGEANT YORK Hungary surrendered to the Allies. That same day, German sailors mutinied against government authority. The mutiny spread quickly. Everywhere in Germany, groups of soldiers and workers organized rev- olutionary councils. On November 9, socialist leaders in the capital, Berlin, established a German republic. The kaiser gave up the throne.

592 CHAPTER 19 Although there were no Allied soldiers on German territory and no truly decisive battle had been fought, the Germans were too exhausted to continue fighting. So at the eleventh hour, on the eleventh day, in the eleventh month of 1918, Germany agreed to a cease-fire and signed the armistice, or truce, that ended the war. THE FINAL TOLL World War I was the bloodiest war in history up to that time. Deaths numbered about 22 million, more than half of them civilians. In addition, 20 million people were wounded, and 10 million more became refugees. The direct economic costs of the war may have been about $338 billion. The United States lost 48,000 men in battle, with another 62,000 dying of disease. More than 200,000 Americans were wounded. For the Allies, news of the armistice brought great relief. Private John Barkley described the reaction to the news.

A PERSONAL VOICE JOHN L. BARKLEY “ About 9 o’clock in the evening we heard wild commotion in the little town. The French people, old and young, were running through the streets. Old men and women we’d seen sitting around their houses too feeble to move, were out in the streets yelling, ‘Vive la France! Vive la France! Vive l’America!’. . . . Down the street came a soldier. He was telling everybody the armistice had been signed. I said, ‘What’s an armistice?’ It sounded like some kind of machine to me. The other boys around there didn’t know what it meant either. When the official word came through that it meant peace, we couldn’t believe it. Finally Jesse said, ‘Well kid, I guess it really does mean the war is over.’ I said, ‘I just can’t believe it’s true.’ But it was.” —No Hard Feelings

Across the Atlantic, Americans also rejoiced at the news. Many now expected life to return to normal. However, people found their lives at home changed almost as much as the lives of those who had fought in Europe.

1. TERMS & NAMES For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance. •Eddie Rickenbacker •convoy system •General John J. Pershing •conscientious objector •Selective Service Act •American •Alvin York •armistice Expeditionary Force

MAIN IDEA CRITICAL THINKING 2. TAKING NOTES 3. DRAWING CONCLUSIONS 4. ANALYZING Fill in a web like the one In what ways did WWI VISUAL below to show how Americans represent a frightening new SOURCES responded to the war. kind of warfare? Think About: This World War I • the casualty figures poster shows • new military technology the role of non- combatants over- American Responses • shell shock seas. What is the to World War I message in this propaganda poster? Why was the entire population affected by America’s entry into World War I?

The First World War 593 The War at Home

MAIN IDEA WHY IT MATTERS NOW Terms & Names

World War I spurred social, Such changes increased •War Industries •George Creel political, and economic government powers and Board •Espionage and change in the United States. expanded economic •Bernard M. Sedition Acts opportunities. Baruch •Great Migration •propaganda

One American's Story

The suffragist Harriot Stanton Blatch visited a munitions plant in New Jersey during World War I and proudly described women at work.

A PERSONAL VOICE HARRIOT STANTON BLATCH “ The day I visited the place, in one of the largest shops women had only just been put on the work, but it was expected that in less than a month they would be found handling all of the twelve hundred machines under that one roof alone. The skill of the women staggers one. After a week or two they master the operations on the ‘turret,’ gauging and routing machines. The best worker on the ‘facing’ machine is a woman. She is a piece worker, as many of the women are. . . . This woman earned, the day I saw her, five dollars and forty cents. She tossed about the fuse parts, and played with that machine, as I would with a baby.”

—quoted in We, the American Women ▼

Before World War I, women had been excluded from many jobs. Harriot Stanton Blatch followed However, the wartime need for labor brought over a million more in the footsteps of her famous women into the work force. For women, as for the rest of society, mother, Elizabeth Cady Stanton. World War I brought about far-reaching changes.

Congress Gives Power to Wilson

Winning the war was not a job for American soldiers alone. As Secretary of War Newton Baker said, “War is no longer Samson with his shield and spear and sword, and David with his sling. It is the conflict of smokestacks now, the com- bat of the driving wheel and the engine.” Because World War I was such an immense conflict, the entire economy had to be refocused on the war effort. The shift from producing consumer goods to producing war supplies was too compli- cated and important a job for private industry to handle on its own, so business and government collaborated in the effort. In the process, the power of govern- ment was greatly expanded. Congress gave President Wilson direct control over much of the economy, including the power to fix prices and to regulate—even to nationalize—certain war-related industries.

594 CHAPTER 19 WAR INDUSTRIES BOARD The main regulatory body was the War Industries Board (WIB). It was established in 1917 and reorganized in 1918 under the leadership of Bernard M. Baruch (bE-rLkP), a prosperous business- Background man. The board encouraged companies to use mass-production techniques to In 1913 Henry increase efficiency. It also urged them to eliminate waste by standardizing prod- Ford speeded up ucts—for instance, by making only 5 colors of typewriter ribbons instead of 150. factory production with a constantly The WIB set production quotas and allocated raw materials. moving assembly Under the WIB, industrial production in the United States increased by about line. Wartime 20 percent. However, the WIB applied price controls only at the wholesale level. production spread As a result, retail prices soared, and in 1918 they were almost double what they this technique throughout the had been before the war. Corporate profits soared as well, especially in such indus- country. tries as chemicals, meatpacking, oil, and steel. The WIB was not the only federal agency to regulate the economy during the war. The Railroad Administration controlled the railroads, and the Fuel Administration monitored coal supplies and rationed gasoline and heating oil. In addition, many people adopted “gasless Sundays” and “lightless nights” to con- serve fuel. In March 1918, the Fuel Administration introduced another conserva- tion measure: daylight-saving time, which had first been proposed by Benjamin Franklin in the 1770s as a way to take advantage of the longer days of summer. WAR ECONOMY Wages in most industries rose during the war years. Hourly wages for blue-collar workers—those in the metal trades, shipbuilding, and meatpacking, for example—rose by about 20 percent. A household’s income, however, was largely undercut by rising food prices and housing costs. By contrast, stockholders in large corporations saw enormous profits. One indus- trial manufacturer, the DuPont Company, saw its stock multiply in value 1,600 per- cent between 1914 and 1918. By that time the company was earning a $68-million yearly profit. As a result of the uneven pay between labor and management, increas- ing work hours, child labor, and dangerously “sped-up” conditions, unions boomed. Union membership climbed from about 2.5 million in 1916 to more than 4 million in 1919. More than 6,000 strikes broke out during the war months. To deal with disputes between management and labor, President Wilson estab- lished the National War Labor Board in 1918. Workers who refused to obey board decisions could lose their draft exemptions. “Work or fight,” the The War Economy, 1914–1920 board told them. However, the board also worked to improve fac- Average Annual Income Consumer Price Index* MAIN IDEA tory conditions. It pushed for an 60 1914 $627 Making eight-hour workday, promoted 55 Inferences safety inspections, and enforced 1915 $633 A A Why would the child labor ban. 50 labor disputes 1916 $708 affect the FOOD ADMINISTRATION To 45 war effort? help produce and conserve food, 1917 $830 40 Wilson set up the Food Admin- 1918 $1,047 istration under Herbert Hoover. 35 1919 $1,201 Consumer Price Index Instead of rationing food, he 30 called on people to follow the 1920 $1,407 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 “gospel of the clean plate.” He Source: Historical Statistics *A measure of changes in the prices of goods and declared one day a week “meat- of the United States services commonly bought by consumers; see Economics Handbook, page R39. less,” another “sweetless,” two days “wheatless,” and two other SKILLBUILDER Interpreting Graphs 1. How did the rise in average annual income compare with the days “porkless.” Restaurants rise in prices from 1914 to 1920? removed sugar bowls from the 2. How might the combined change in wages and prices affect table and served bread only after a working family? the first course.

The First World War 595 A Japanese- ▼ American family tends a victory garden in New York City in 1917.

Homeowners planted “victory gardens” in their yards.

Schoolchildren spent their after-school hours growing tomatoes and ▼ cucumbers in public parks. As a result of these and similar efforts, A wartime poster encourages American food shipments to the Allies tripled. Hoover also set a high Americans to conserve government price on wheat and other staples. Farmers responded by resources. putting an additional 40 million acres into production. In the process, they increased their income by almost 30 percent.

Selling the War

Once the government had extended its control over the economy, it was faced with two major tasks: raising money and convincing the public to support the war. WAR FINANCING The United States spent about $35.5 billion on the war effort. The government raised about one-third of this amount through taxes, including a progressive income tax (which taxed high incomes at a higher rate than low incomes), a war-profits tax, and higher excise taxes on tobacco, liquor, and luxury goods. It raised the rest through public borrowing by selling “Liberty Loan” and “Victory Loan” bonds. The government sold bonds through tens of thousands of volunteers. Movie stars spoke at rallies in factories, in schools, and on street corners. As Treasury MAIN IDEA Secretary William G. McAdoo put it, only “a friend of Germany” would refuse to Summarizing buy war bonds. B B How did the government raise COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC INFORMATION To popularize the war, the govern- money for the ment set up the nation’s first propaganda agency, the Committee on Public war effort? Information (CPI). Propaganda is a kind of biased communication designed to influence people’s thoughts and actions. The head of the CPI was a former muck- raking journalist named George Creel. Creel persuaded the nation’s artists and advertising agencies to create thou- sands of paintings, posters, cartoons, and sculptures promoting the war. He recruited some 75,000 men to serve as “Four-Minute Men,” who spoke about everything relating to the war: the draft, rationing, bond drives, victory gardens, and topics such as “Why We Are Fighting” and “The Meaning of America.” Nor did Creel neglect the written word. He ordered a printing of almost 25 million copies of “How the War Came to America”—which included Wilson’s war message—in English and other languages. He distributed some 75 million pamphlets, booklets, and leaflets, many with the enthusiastic help of the Boy

596 CHAPTER 19 Scouts. Creel’s propaganda campaign was highly effective. However, while the campaign promoted patriotism, it also inflamed hatred and violations of the civil liberties of certain ethnic groups and opponents of the war.

Attacks on Civil Liberties Increase

Early in 1917, President Wilson expressed his fears about the consequences of war hysteria.

A PERSONAL VOICE WOODROW WILSON “ Once lead this people into war and they’ll forget there ever was such a thing as tolerance. To fight you must be brutal and ruthless, and the spirit of ruthless brutality will enter into the very fiber of our national life, infecting Congress, the courts, the policeman on the beat, the man in the street. Conformity would be the only virtue, and every man who refused to conform would have to pay the penalty.” —quoted in Cobb of “The World”

The president’s prediction came true. As soon as war was declared, conformity indeed became the order of the day. Attacks on civil liberties, both unofficial and official, erupted.

MAIN IDEA ANTI-IMMIGRANT HYSTERIA The main targets of these attacks were Americans who had emigrated from other nations, especially those from Developing Historical Germany and Austria-Hungary. The most bitter attacks were directed against the Perspective nearly 2 million Americans who had been born in Germany, but other foreign- C What effect born persons and Americans of German descent suffered as well. C did the war have Many Americans with German names lost their jobs. Orchestras refused to on the lives of recent immigrants? play the music of Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms. Some towns with German names changed them. Schools stopped teaching the German language, and librarians removed books by German authors from the shelves. People even resorted to violence against German Americans, flogging them or smearing them

Analyzing

THE ENEMY WITHIN After the United States entered the war, government propaganda helped inflame prejudice against recent immigrants. In the suspicious atmosphere of the time, conspiracy theories flourished, and foreign spies were believed to be everywhere. This cartoon reveals the hysteria that gripped the country in 1917.

SKILLBUILDER Analyzing Political Cartoons 1. What is happening in this cartoon? 2. What does the cartoonist suggest will happen to “enemy aliens”? SEE SKILLBUILDER HANDBOOK, PAGE R24.

The First World War 597 with tar and feathers. A mob in Collinsville, Illinois, wrapped a German flag around a German-born miner named Robert Prager and lynched him. A jury cleared the mob’s leader. Finally, in a burst of anti-German fervor, Americans changed the name of German measles to “liberty measles.” Hamburger—named after the German city of Hamburg—became “Salisbury steak” or “liberty sandwich,” depending on whether you were buying it in a store or eating it in a restaurant. Sauerkraut was renamed “liberty cabbage,” and dachshunds turned into “liberty pups.” ESPIONAGE AND SEDITION ACTS In June 1917 Congress passed the Espionage Act, and in May 1918 it passed the Sedition Act. Under the Espionage Vocabulary and Sedition Acts a person could be fined up to $10,000 and sentenced to 20 sedition: rebellion years in jail for interfering with the war effort or for saying anything disloyal, pro- against one’s fane, or abusive about the government or the war effort. government; treason Like the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, these laws clearly violated the spir- it of the First Amendment. Their passage led to over 2,000 prosecutions for loosely defined antiwar activities; of these, over half resulted in convictions. Newspapers and magazines that opposed the war or criticized any of the Allies lost their mailing privileges. The House of Representatives refused to seat Victor Berger, a socialist congressman from Wisconsin, because of his antiwar views. Columbia University fired a distinguished psychologist because he opposed the war. A colleague who supported the war thereupon resigned in protest, saying, “If we have to suppress everything we don’t like to hear, this country is resting on a pretty wobbly basis.” The Espionage and Sedition Acts targeted socialists and labor leaders. Eugene V. Debs was handed a ten-year prison sentence for speaking out against the war and the draft. The anarchist Emma Goldman received a two-year prison sentence and a $10,000 fine for organizing the No MAIN IDEA Conscription League. When she left jail, the authorities deported her to Analyzing Russia. “Big Bill” Haywood and other leaders of the Industrial Workers of Effects the World (IWW) were accused of sabotaging the war effort because they D What impact urged workers to strike for better conditions and higher pay. Haywood did the Espionage and Sedition Acts was sentenced to a long prison term. (He later skipped bail and fled to have on free Russia.) Under such federal pressure, the IWW faded away. D speech?

▼ The War Encourages Social Change This Industrial Workers of the Wars often unleash powerful social forces. The period of World War I was no World (IWW) exception; important changes transformed the lives of African Americans sticker encourages workers to join and women. the union. AFRICAN AMERICANS AND THE WAR Black public opinion about the war was divided. On one side were people like W. E. B. Du Bois, who believed that blacks should support the war effort.

A PERSONAL VOICE W. E. B. DU BOIS “ That which the German power represents today spells death to the aspirations of Negroes and all darker races for equality, freedom and democracy. . . . Let us, while this war lasts, forget our special grievances and close our ranks shoulder to shoulder with our own white fellow citizens and the allied nations that are fighting for democracy.” —“Close Ranks”

W. E. B. Du Bois ▼

598 CHAPTER 19 Du Bois believed that African-American support for the war would strength- en calls for racial justice. In contrast, William Monroe Trotter, founder of the Boston Guardian, believed that victims of racism should not support a racist gov- ernment. Trotter condemned Du Bois’s accommodationist approach and favored protest instead. Nevertheless, despite grievances over continued racial inequality in the United States, most African Americans backed the war. THE GREAT MIGRATION In concrete terms, the greatest effect of the First World War on African Americans’ lives was that it accelerated the Great Migration, the large-scale movement of hundreds of thousands of Southern blacks to cities in the North. This great population shift had already begun before the war in the late 19th century, when African Americans trickled northward to escape the Jim Crow South—but after the turn of the century, the trickle became a tidal wave. Several factors contributed to the tremendous increase in black migration. First, many African Americans sought to escape racial discrimination in the South, which made it hard to make a living and often threatened their lives. Also, a boll weevil infestation, aided by floods and droughts, had ruined much of the South’s cotton fields. In the North, there were more job opportunities. For example, Henry History Through Ford opened his automobile assembly line to black workers in 1914. The outbreak of World War I and the drop in European immigration increased job opportunities for THE MIGRATION OF THE MAIN IDEA African Americans in steel mills, munitions plants, and NEGRO, PANEL NO. 1 (1940–41) Making stockyards. Northern manufacturers sent recruiting agents Inferences to distribute free railroad passes through the South. In This painting by Jacob Lawrence E How did addition, the publisher of the black-owned newspaper shows three of the most common the war open destinations for African Americans Chicago Defender bombarded Southern blacks with articles opportunities leaving the South. Why do you for African contrasting Dixieland lynchings with the prosperity of think the artist has not shown Americans? African Americans in the North. E any individual facial features?

The First World War 599 However, racial prejudice against African Americans also HISTORICAL existed in the North. The press of new migrants to Northern L cities caused overcrowding and intensified racial tensions. SPOTLIGHT Nevertheless, between 1910 and 1930, hundreds of thousands of African Americans migrated to such cities as RACE RIOTS Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia. Author Richard Racial prejudice against African Wright described the great exodus. Americans in the North some- times took violent forms. In July 1917, a race riot exploded in East A PERSONAL VOICE RICHARD WRIGHT St. Louis, Illinois. White workers, “ We are bitter no more; we are leaving! We are leaving our furious over the hiring of African homes, pulling up stakes to move on. We look up at the Americans as strikebreakers at high southern sky and remember all the sunshine and all a munitions plant, rampaged the rain and we feel a sense of loss, but we are leaving. through the streets. Forty blacks We look out at the wide green fields which our eyes saw and nine whites died. Another riot erupted in July when we first came into the world and we feel full of 1919 in Chicago when a 17-year- regret, but we are leaving. We scan the kind black faces old African American swam from we have looked upon since we first saw the light of day, the water off a “black beach” to and, though pain is in our hearts, we are leaving. We take the water off a “white beach.” one last furtive look over our shoulders to the Big House— There, white bathers threw rocks high upon a hill beyond the railroad tracks—where the Lord at him until he drowned. of the Land lives, and we feel glad, for we are leaving. African Americans retaliated, ” and several riots broke out in the —quoted in 12 Million Black Voices city. Order was restored after sev- eral days of violence that WOMEN IN THE WAR While African Americans began involved about 10,000 people. new lives, women moved into jobs that had been held exclusively by men. They became railroad workers, cooks, dockworkers, and bricklayers. They mined coal and took part in shipbuilding. At the same time, women continued to fill more traditional jobs as nurses, clerks, and teachers. Many women worked as volunteers, serving at Red Cross facilities and encouraging the sale of bonds and the planting of victory MAIN IDEA gardens. Other women, such as Jane Addams, were active in the peace movement. Analyzing Addams helped found the Women’s Peace Party in 1915 and remained a pacifist Effects even after the United States entered the war. F F What effect President Wilson acknowledged, “The services of women during the did the war have on women’s lives? supreme crisis have been of the most signal usefulness and distinction; it is high time that part of our debt should be acknowledged.” While acknowledgment of that debt did not include equal pay for equal work, it did help bolster public support for woman suffrage. In 1919, Congress finally passed the Nineteenth Amendment, granting women the right to vote. In 1920 the amendment was ratified by the states.

Women worked ▼ in a variety of jobs during the war. Here, women assemble an aircraft wing.

600 THE FLU EPIDEMIC In the fall of 1918, the United States suffered a home- front crisis when an international flu epidemic affected about one-quarter of the U.S. population. The effect of the epidemic on the economy was devastating. Mines shut down, telephone service was cut in half, and factories and offices staggered working hours to avoid contagion. Cities ran short of coffins, and the corpses of poor people lay unburied for as long as a week. The mysterious illness New York City street cleaners seemed to strike people who were otherwise in the best of health, and death wore masks to could come in a matter of days. Doctors did not know what to do, other than to avoid catching recommend cleanliness and quarantine. One epidemic survivor recalled that “so influenza. many people died from the flu they just rang the bells; they didn’t dare take ▼ [corpses] into the church.” In the army, where living conditions allowed contagious illnesses to spread rapidly, more than a quarter of the soldiers caught the disease. In some AEF units, one-third of the troops died. Germans fell victim in even larger numbers than the Allies. Possibly spread around the MAIN IDEA world by soldiers, the epidemic killed about 500,000 Americans Making before it disappeared in 1919. Historians believe that the Inferences influenza virus killed as many as 30 million people G How did worldwide. G wartime conditions World War I brought death and disease to help spread the flu? millions but, like the flu epidemic, the war also came to a sudden end. After four years of slaughter and destruction, the time had come to forge a peace settlement. Americans hoped that this “war to end all wars” would do just that. Leaders of the victorious nations gath- ered at Versailles outside Paris to work out the terms of peace, and President Wilson traveled to Europe to ensure it.

1. TERMS & NAMES For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance. •War Industries Board •propaganda •Espionage and •Great Migration •Bernard M. Baruch •George Creel Sedition Acts

MAIN IDEA CRITICAL THINKING 2. TAKING NOTES 3. DRAWING CONCLUSIONS 5. EVALUATING In a chart like the one shown, list How did the war affect government Do you think that the war had a some of the changes that the war power? Think About: positive or a negative effect on brought about for each group. • how private business worked American society? Think About: with government • how the propaganda campaign Changes Brought About influenced people’s behavior by the War • how much control the president gained over the economy • the new job opportunities for African Americans • the Espionage and Sedition Acts African Americans and women Women • how the government controlled 4. MAKING INFERENCES Immigrants industry Why do you think the flu spread so quickly among the troops? Explain how each group benefited from or was disadvantaged by these changes.

The First World War 601 SCHENCK v. UNITED STATES (1919) ORIGINS OF THE CASE Charles Schenck, an official of the U.S. Socialist Party, distrib- uted leaflets that called the draft a “deed against humanity” and compared conscription to slavery, urging conscripts to “assert your rights.” Schenck was convicted of sedition and sentenced to prison, but he argued that the conviction, punishment, and even the law itself violated his right to free speech. The Supreme Court agreed to hear his appeal. THE RULING A unanimous court upheld Schenck’s conviction, stating that under wartime conditions, the words in the leaflets were not protected by the right to free speech.

LEGAL REASONING The Supreme Court’s opinion in the Schenck case, written by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., has become LEGAL SOURCES famous as a guide for how the First Amendment defines the right of free speech. Holmes wrote: LEGISLATION “ The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of U.S. CONSTITUTION, FIRST AMENDMENT (1791) such a nature as to create a clear and present “Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the free- danger that they will bring about the substantive dom of speech, or of the press.” evils that Congress has a right to prevent.” THE SEDITION ACT (1918) "(W)hoever . . . shall willfully utter, print, write or Justice Holmes noted that “in ordinary times” the publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive First Amendment might have protected Schenck, but language about the form of government, . . . “[w]hen a nation is at war many things that might be Constitution, . . . military or naval forces, . . . flag, . . . or the uniform of the Army or Navy of the United said in time of peace . . . will not be endured.” States . . . shall be punished by a fine of not more The analogy that Holmes used to explain why than $10,000 or imprisonment for not more than Schenck could be punished for his words has become twenty years, or both." probably the best-known observation ever made about free speech: RELATED CASES “ Protection of free speech would not protect a man in DEBS v. UNITED STATES falsely shouting ‘Fire!’ in a (MARCH, 1919) theatre and causing a panic.” The conviction against Eugene Debs for speaking against the war and the draft is upheld.

Writing for the Court, Holmes FROHWERK v. UNITED STATES implied that during wartime, (MARCH, 1919) Schenck’s leaflet was just that The publisher of a newspaper that had criticized the dangerous. war is sentenced with a fine and ten years in prison. ABRAMS v. UNITED STATES (NOV., 1919) Leaflets criticizing the U.S. expeditionary force in Russia are found to be unprotected by the First Amendment. Holmes writes a dissenting opinion Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., calling for the “free trade of ideas.” Supreme Court Justice

1902–1932 ▼

602 CHAPTER 19 WHY IT MATTERED HISTORICAL IMPACT During the course of World War I, the federal govern- Disagreements about what kinds of speech are “free” ment brought approximately 2,000 prosecutions for under the First Amendment continue. During the 1950s, violations of the Espionage Act of 1917 or the Sedition when people were jailed for supporting Communism, Act of 1918, the same laws under which it convicted and during the Vietnam War, when war protestors sup- Schenck, Debs, and Frohwerk. ported draft resistance, these issues again reached the By the fall of 1919, however, Holmes had changed Supreme Court. his mind. The case of Abrams v. United States concerned The Court has also been asked to decide if young leaflets that criticized President Wilson’s “capitalistic” people in schools have the same First Amendment government for sending troops to put down the rights as adults. In Tinker v. Des Moines School District Russian Revolution. Justice Holmes, joined by Justice (1969), the Court ordered a school to readmit students Louis Brandeis, dissented from the majority of the who had been suspended for wearing black arm bands Court, which upheld the conviction. In his dissent, in protest of the war in Vietnam. Holmes emphasized the importance of a free exchange This so-called symbolic speech, such as wearing an of ideas so that truth will win out in the intellectual armband or burning a draft card or a flag to express an marketplace. His reasoning won him acclaim as a pro- opinion, has sparked heated debate. In Texas v. Johnson tector of free speech. (1989), the Court, by a narrow five to four vote, inval- The belief that truth will eventually win out in the idated a law under which a man who burned an marketplace of ideas has become important legal justi- American flag to protest Reagan administration poli- fication for promoting freedom of speech. cies had been convicted. The decision so outraged some people that members of Congress considered amending the Constitution to prohibit any “physical desecration” of the flag. The amendment did not pass. Our freedoms of expression continue to depend upon the words in the first article of the Bill of Rights, written more than 200 years ago. ▼ In 1965 Mary Beth Tinker and her brother, John, were suspended from school for wearing

armbands that ▼ symbolically criticized the Eugene Debs was arrested for antiwar speeches like the one he Vietnam War. gave at this 1916 presidential campaign stop.

THINKING CRITICALLY

CONNECT TO HISTORY CONNECT TO TODAY 1. Analyzing Primary Sources Read Justice Holmes’s 2. dissent in Abrams v. United States. Compare it with the IINTERNET ACTIVITY CLASSZONE.COM opinion he wrote in Schenck v. United States. Explain the Visit the links for Historic Decisions of the Supreme major difference or similarity in the two opinions. Court to research articles about free speech issues. SEE SKILLBUILDER HANDBOOK, PAGE R22. Select several of these issues—such as whether hate groups have a right to march—to discuss with other students in your class. Choose one issue and, as a group, write down as many arguments as you can on both sides of the issue. Then present a debate to the class.

The First World War 603 Wilson Fights for Peace

MAIN IDEA WHY IT MATTERS NOW Terms & Names

European leaders opposed Many of the nationalist issues •Fourteen Points •Treaty of most of Wilson’s peace plan, left unresolved after World War I •League of Versailles and the U.S. Senate failed to continue to trouble the world Nations •reparations ratify the peace treaty. today. •Georges •war-guilt clause Clemenceau •Henry Cabot •David Lloyd Lodge George

One American's Story

In January 1918, at the magnificent Palace of Versailles outside Paris, President Wilson tried to persuade the Allies to construct a just and lasting peace and to estab- lish a League of Nations. Colonel E. M. House, a native of Texas and a member of the American delegation to Versailles, later wrote about the conference.

A PERSONAL VOICE COLONEL E. M. HOUSE “ How splendid it would have been had we blazed a new and better trail! . . . It may be that Wilson might have had the power and influence if he had remained in Washington and kept clear of the Conference. When he stepped from his lofty pedestal and wrangled with representatives of other states, upon equal terms, he became as common clay. . . . To those who are saying that the Treaty is bad and should never have been made and that it will involve Europe in infinite difficul- ties in its enforcement, I feel like admitting it. But I would also say in reply that empires cannot be shattered and new states raised upon their ruins without disturbance.” —quoted in Hooray for Peace, Hurrah for War

House saw what happened when Wilson’s idealism ran up against practical politics. The Allied victors, vengeful toward Germany after four years of

▼ warfare, rejected most of Wilson’s peace program. Colonel Edward M. House was a friend and advisor to Wilson Presents His Plan President Woodrow Rejection was probably the last thing Wilson expected when he arrived in Europe. Wilson. Everywhere he went, people gave him a hero’s welcome. Italians displayed his pic- ture in their windows; Parisians strewed the street with flowers. Representatives of one group after another, including Armenians, Jews, Ukrainians, and Poles, appealed to him for help in setting up independent nations for themselves.

604 CHAPTER 19 FOURTEEN POINTS Even before the war was over, Wilson presented his plan for world peace. On January 18, 1918, he PPLLAAYY delivered his now famous Fourteen Points speech before KKEEYY EERR Congress. The points were divided into three groups. The first five points were issues that Wilson believed had to be addressed to prevent another war: 1. There should be no secret treaties among nations. 2. Freedom of the seas should be maintained for all. 3. Tariffs and other economic barriers among nations Vocabulary should be lowered or abolished in order to foster free trade: the free trade. buying and selling 4. Arms should be reduced “to the lowest point consis- of goods without tent with domestic safety, thus lessening the possi- tariffs, or fees bility of military responses” during diplomatic crises. 5. Colonial policies should consider the interests of WOODROW WILSON the colonial peoples as well as the interests of the 1856–1924 imperialist powers. At the end of the war, President The next eight points dealt with boundary changes. Wilson wanted the United States Wilson based these provisions on the principle of self-deter- to become more involved in inter- national affairs. He believed the mination “along historically established lines of nationali- nation had a moral obligation to ty.” In other words, groups that claimed distinct ethnic help maintain peace in the world. identities were to form their own nation-states or decide for Wilson’s sense of moral purpose themselves to what nations they would belong. had a lasting influence on The fourteenth point called for the creation of an inter- American foreign policy. national organization to address diplomatic crises like those that had sparked the war. This League of Nations would provide a forum for nations to discuss and settle their grievances without having to resort to war. THE ALLIES REJECT WILSON’S PLAN Wilson’s naiveté about the political aspects of securing a peace treaty showed itself in his failure to grasp the anger felt by the Allied leaders. The French premier, Georges Clemenceau (klDmQEn-sIP), had lived through two German invasions of France and was determined to prevent future invasions. MAIN IDEA David Lloyd George, the British prime minis- ter, had just won reelection on the slogan Developing Historical “Make Germany Pay.” The Italian prime Perspective minister, Vittorio Orlando, wanted control A Why did the of Austrian-held territory. A Allies reject Contrary to custom, the peace con- Wilson’s plan? ference did not include the defeated Central Powers. Nor did it include Russia, which was now under the con- trol of a Communist government, or the smaller Allied nations. Instead, the “Big Four”—Wilson, Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and Orlando—worked out the treaty’s details among them- selves. Wilson conceded on most of his Fourteen Points in return for the estab- lishment of the League of Nations.

(left to rIght) David Lloyd George, Georges Clemenceau, ▼ and Woodrow Wilson in Paris in 1919.

The First World War 605 Europe and the Middle East, 1915 Europe and the Middle East, 1920

ICELAND ICELAND

N N W W

SWEDEN E SWEDEN E FINLAND S NORWAY S NORWAY

a

a e e ESTONIA North S North S c i c Sea t i l Sea t a LATVIA l IRELAND B IRELAND DENMARK a RUSSIA DENMARK RUSSIA 50°N (Br.) GREAT B 50°N (Br.) GREAT LITHUANIA BRITAIN BRITAIN E. PRUSSIA NETHERLANDS NETHERLANDS GERMANY (Ger.) BELGIUM GERMANY BELGIUM POLAND ATLANTIC ATLANTIC C LUXEMBOURG LUXEMBOURG ZEC HOS OCEAN FRANCE OCEAN LOVA AUSTRIA- FRANCE KIA SWITZERLAND HUNGARY SWITZERLAND AUSTRIA HUNGARY ROMANIA YU A A G d ROMANIA d O r Black Sea r S Black Sea ia ia LA t SERBIA t V ITALY ic ic IA S BULGARIA SPAIN MONTENEGRO BULGARIA SPAIN ITALY ea S PORTUGAL PORTUGAL ea ALBANIA ALBANIA OTTOMAN M e M e d GREECE TURKEY d i t GREECE EMPIRE i t e r e r r a r a n n SYRIA e e a a n 20°E30°E n 20°E30°E LEBANON IRAQ S e a ARABIA S e a PALESTINE TRANS- JORDAN Allied Powers GEOGRAPHY SKILLBUILDER 0 250 500 miles 0 250 500 miles New nations Central Powers 1. Region What had happened to 0 250 500 kilometers German territory in the east by 1920? 0 250 500 kilometers Allied-occupied zones Neutral countries 2. Location Which new nation absorbed Serbia and Montenegro by 1920?

Debating the Treaty of Versailles

On June 28, 1919, the Big Four and the leaders of the defeated nations gathered in the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles to sign the peace treaty. After four years of devastating warfare, everyone hoped that the treaty would create stabili- ty for a rebuilt Europe. Instead, anger held sway. PROVISIONS OF THE TREATY The Treaty of Versailles (vEr-sFT) established nine new nations—including Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia—and shift- ed the boundaries of other nations. It carved five areas out of the Ottoman Empire and gave them to France and Great Britain as mandates, or temporary colonies. Those two Allies were to administer their respective mandates until the areas were ready for self-rule and then independence. The treaty barred Germany from maintaining an army. It also required Germany to return the region of Alsace-Lorraine to France and to pay reparations, or war damages, amounting to $33 billion to the Allies. THE TREATY’S WEAKNESSES This treatment of Germany weakened the abil- ity of the Treaty of Versailles to provide a lasting peace in Europe. Several basic flaws in the treaty sowed the seeds of postwar international problems that even- tually would lead to the Second World War. First, the treaty humiliated Germany. It contained a war-guilt clause forcing Germany to admit sole responsibility for starting World War I. Although

German militarism had played a major role in igniting the war, other European MAIN IDEA nations had been guilty of provoking diplomatic crises before the war. Summarizing Furthermore, there was no way Germany could pay the huge financial B How did the reparations. Germany was stripped of its colonial possessions in the Pacific, which Treaty of Versailles might have helped it pay its reparations bill. B affect Germany?

606 CHAPTER 19 In addition, for three years the Russians had fought on the side of the Allies, suffering higher casualties than any other nation. However, because Russia was excluded from the peace conference, it lost more territory than Germany did. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (or Soviet Union), as Russia was officially called after 1922, became determined to regain its former territory. Finally, the treaty ignored claims of colonized people for self-determination, as in the case of Southeast Asia, where the Vietnamese people were beginning to demand the same political rights enjoyed by people in Western nations. OPPOSITION TO THE TREATY When Wilson returned to the United States, he faced strong opposition to the treaty. Some people, including Herbert Hoover, believed it was too harsh. Hoover noted, “The economic consequences alone will pull down all Europe and thus injure the United States.” Others considered the treaty a sell-out to imperialism because it simply exchanged one set of colonial rulers for another. Some ethnic groups objected to the treaty because the new national boundaries it established did not satisfy their particular demands for self- determination. For example, before the war many Poles had been under German rule. Now many Germans were under Polish rule. DEBATE OVER THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS The main domestic opposition, however, centered on the issue of the League of Nations. A few opponents believed that the League threatened the U.S. foreign policy of isolationism. Conservative sen- ators, headed by Henry Cabot Lodge, were suspicious of the provision for joint economic and military action against aggression, even though it was voluntary. They wanted the constitutional right of Congress to declare war included in the treaty.

POINT COUNTERPOINT

“The League of Nations was “The League of Nations posed a threat the world’s best hope for lasting peace.” to U.S. self-determination.” President Wilson campaigned for the League of Nations Senator William Borah was one of the foremost critics as “necessary to meet the differing and unexpected of the Treaty of Versailles because he objected to U.S. contingencies” that could threaten world peace. Wilson membership in the League of Nations. Borah feared believed that the League would create a forum where that membership in the League “would draw America nations could talk through their disagreements. He also away from her isolation and into the internal affairs hoped it would provide collective security, in which and concerns of Europe” and involve the United States nations would “respect and preserve as against exter- in foreign wars. “Once having surrendered and become nal aggression the territorial integrity and existing politi- a part of the European concerns,” Borah wondered, cal independence of all members of the League,” and “where, my friends, are you going to stop?” thereby prevent devastating warfare. Many opponents also feared that the League Critics complained that membership in the League would nullify the Monroe Doctrine by limiting “the right would limit American independence in international of our people to govern themselves free from all affairs. However, Wilson argued that League member- restraint, legal or moral, of foreign powers.” ship included “a moral, not a legal, obligation” that Although Wilson argued that the League of Nations would leave Congress free to decide its own course of would have no such power of restraint, Borah was action. Wilson tried to unconvinced. He respond- assure Congress as well THINKING CRITICALLY ed to Wilson’s argument as the general public that by asking, “What will your the League was “not a 1. CONNECT TO HISTORY Summarizing Both supporters League amount to if it straitjacket, but a vehicle of and opponents of the League hoped to preserve peace. does not contain powers life.” It was also a definite How did each group propose to secure peace for the that no one dreams of guaranty . . . against the United States? giving it?” things that have just come SEE SKILLBUILDER HANDBOOK, PAGE R4. near bringing the whole structure of civilization 2. CONNECT TO TODAY Identifying Problems What are into ruin.” some contemporary arguments against United States participation in international organizations such as the United Nations or the World Court?

The First World War 607 History Through

ECHOES OF THE GREAT WAR In the 1920s and 1930s, a number of Hollywood horror films were influenced by memories of the Great War. The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Phantom of the Opera featured men who, like many veterans, were forced to live with shameful disfigurements. Other films recalled the war’s bleak landscapes. For example, parts of the movie Frankenstein were filmed on the same sets as All Quiet on the Western Front, the famous war film. James Whale, who directed Frankenstein,was a veteran of the war. Like many of his generation, he remained profoundly

disturbed by the horrors the war had unleashed. ▼ Chaney in The Hunchback

of Notre Dame (1923)

Lon Chane in y ▼ The Phantom ▼ of the Opera (top) All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) (1925) (bottom) Frankenstein (1931)

SKILLBUILDER Interpreting Visual Sources 1. Why might the theme of human disfigurement be especially powerful to the generation that lived through World War I? 2. How do horror films of your time reflect specific fears and anxieties of the current generation? SEE SKILLBUILDER HANDBOOK, PAGE R23.

WILSON REFUSES TO COMPROMISE Wilson unwisely ignored the Republican majority in the Senate when he chose the members of the American delegation. If he had been more willing to accept a compromise on the League, it would have been more likely that the Senate would have approved the treaty. Wilson, however, was exhausted from his efforts at Versailles. Despite ill health, Wilson set out in September 1919 on an 8,000-mile tour. He delivered 34 speeches in about 3 weeks, explaining why the United States should join the League of Nations. On October 2, Wilson suffered a stroke (a rup- tured blood vessel to the brain) and lay partially paralyzed for more than two months, unable to even meet with his cabinet. His once-powerful voice was no more than a thick whisper. When the treaty came up for a vote in the Senate in November 1919, Senator Lodge introduced a number of amendments, the most important of which qual- ified the terms under which the United States would enter the League of Nations. It was feared that U.S. membership in the League would force the United States to form its foreign policy in accord with the League. Although the Senate reject- ed the amendments, it also failed to ratify the treaty. Wilson refused to compromise. “I will not play for position,” he proclaimed. MAIN IDEA “This is not a time for tactics. It is a time to stand square. I can stand defeat; I can- Making not stand retreat from conscientious duty.” The treaty again came up for a vote Inferences in March 1920. The Senate again rejected the Lodge amendments—and again C Why were failed to muster enough votes for ratification. some people The United States finally signed a separate treaty with Germany in 1921, after afraid of the treaty’s influence Wilson was no longer president. The United States never joined the League of over American Nations, but it maintained an unofficial observer at League meetings. C foreign policy?

608 CHAPTER 19 The Legacy of the War

When World War I ended, many Americans looked forward to a return of what Warren G. Harding called “normalcy.” However, both the United States and the rest of the world had been utterly transformed by the war. At home, World War I had strengthened both the U.S. military and the power of government. It had also accelerated social change, especially for African Americans and women. In addi- tion, the propaganda campaign had provoked powerful fears and antagonisms that were left unchanneled when the war finally came to an end. In Europe the destruction and massive loss of life severely damaged social and political systems. In many countries the war created political instability and vio- Vocabulary lence that persisted for decades. During the war years, the first Communist state fascist: was established in Russia, while after the war, militant fascist organizations seized characteristic of control in Italy, Spain, and Germany. or relating to Appalled by the scale of destruction, Americans fascism,a system began to call World War I “the war to end all wars,” in the Domestic Consequences of totalitarian of World War I government hope that humanity would never again be willing to fight such a war. However, unresolved issues in Europe would eventually drag America into an even wider war. The •accelerated America’s emergence as the world’s greatest industrial power Treaty of Versailles had settled nothing. In fact, some Europeans longed to resume the fight. The ominous •contributed to the movement of shape of things to come emerged in the writings of an African Americans to Northern cities Austrian named Adolf Hitler, an angry veteran of World War I: “It cannot be that two million [Germans] should • intensified anti-immigrant and have fallen in vain. . . . No, we do not pardon, we anti-radical sentiments among mainstream Americans demand—vengeance!” Two decades after the end of the Great War, Adolf Hitler’s desire for vengeance would • brought over one million women into plunge the world into an even greater war, in which the the work force United States would play a leading role.

1. TERMS & NAMES For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance. •Fourteen Points •Georges Clemenceau •Treaty of Versailles •war-guilt clause •League of Nations •David Lloyd George •reparations •Henry Cabot Lodge

MAIN IDEA CRITICAL THINKING 2. TAKING NOTES 3. DEVELOPING HISTORICAL 5. HYPOTHESIZING Re-create the spider diagram PERSPECTIVE Predict Germany’s reaction to shown below. Fill in the web with Why didn’t the Treaty of Versailles the Treaty of Versailles. Give information about the provisions lay the foundations for a lasting reasons for your predictions. and weaknesses of the peace? Think About: Treaty of Versailles and 4. SUMMARIZING • what Germans thought of the opposition to it. war-guilt clause Provisions Why did so many Americans oppose the Treaty of Versailles? • German reaction to reparations The Treaty of • how Germans felt about the loss Versailles of territory

Weaknesses Opposition

Do you think Congress should have rejected the treaty?

The First World War 609 C I N G T R A T H E M E S America in World Affairs The United States has not always been as involved in world affairs as it is today. Throughout its history, the nation’s foreign policy has swung back and forth between a commitment to involvement with the world and the desire for isolation. “Steer clear of permanent alliances,” George Washington cautioned Americans in his Farewell Address of 1796. Washington’s warning to the young nation became a theme of government policy for the next hundred years, as domestic issues domi- nated Americans’ attention. In the late 1800s, however, Americans began to look outward to the larger world. The country had reached the limits of its continental expansion and stretched from ocean to ocean. As its economic power grew stronger, the United States became more involved in the affairs of its neighbors in the Western Hemisphere. 1823–1898

THE UNITED STATES AND LATIN AMERICA ▼ Throughout the 19th century, the United States expanded its influence in the Western Hemisphere. The Monroe Doctrine was intended to diminish European interference. After the Civil War, American trade with Latin America, including the Spanish colony of Cuba, grew. In fact, the United States traded more heavily with Cuba than Spain did. When the Cubans rebelled against Spain, Americans sympathized with the rebels. After the battleship U.S.S. Maine sank in the Cuban harbor of Havana, Americans blamed the Spanish, and Congress declared war. After defeating the Spanish, the United States extended its influence in territories such as Puerto Rico, Panama, and Mexico. A new expansionist era had begun.

1917–1939 ▼ INVOLVEMENT AND ISOLATIONISM Before World War I, the United States had generally limited its military involvement to the Western Hemisphere. As the war in Europe progressed, this position became impossible to maintain, as German U-boats increasingly threatened American lives. In spite of fierce opposition from isolation- ists, the United States joined World War I in 1917. U.S. involvement in the conflict greatly strengthened its armed forces and revealed the nation’s military potential. After the war, the United States returned to a policy of isolationism. A decade later, as European dictators began menacing other European countries, American public opin- ion was sharply divided. Many argued that the best way to preserve American democracy was to stay out of war in Europe. It took Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in 1941 to force the United States into World War II.

610 CHAPTER 19 U.S. forces in Vietnam in 1968

This statue of Lenin, the leader of the 1917 Russian Revolution, was toppled by Latvian citizens in 1991. 1945–1991

▼ THE COLD WAR After World War II, tensions between the United States and Communist countries like the Soviet Union and China developed into a nonmilitary conflict known as the Cold War. During the Cold War, which lasted for nearly 50 years, the United States and the Soviet Union competed to extend their political and economic influence. In some parts of the world, such as Korea and Vietnam, the Cold War led to prolonged military warfare. The great costs of these conflicts—both in money and in lives— led to renewed calls for isolationism. Nevertheless, the U.S. 1939–1945 remained actively involved in the Cold War throughout the 1980s. INVOLVEMENT IN EUROPE ▼ When the fascist threat to democracy became too great to THINKING CRITICALLY ignore, the United States joined the CONNECT TO TODAY Allies in fighting the 1. Analyzing Motives What were America’s motives for Axis Powers during getting involved in each of the wars described on these World War II. The two pages? Do you think these motives would be valid United States and the today? Soviet Union emerged SEE SKILLBUILDER HANDBOOK, PAGE R6. from the war as the two strongest military CONNECT TO HISTORY powers in the world. 2. Writing About Wartime Experience Imagine that you It was now impossible are a reporter writing at the time about one of the wars for the nation to in the 20th century. Interview someone you know—or return to isolationism. look for information in the library or on the Internet—to The United States find out how a soldier, nurse, cook, sailor, or pilot took an active role in spent each day as part of the war effort. Write a fea- rebuilding Europe through programs like the Marshall ture article for a local newspaper, quoting that person. Plan and was instrumental in establishing the United Nations. The United States also stayed involved with Europe militarily during the Cold War as a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). IRESEARCH LINKS CLASSZONE.COM

The First World War 611 CHAPTER ASSESSMENT

TERMS & NAMES For each term or name below, write a sentence explaining its VISUAL SUMMARY connection to World War I. 1. nationalism 6. armistice 2. trench warfare 7. Espionage and Sedition Acts THE FIRST WORLD WAR 3. Zimmermann note 8. Great Migration 4. Selective Service Act 9. Fourteen Points 5. General John J. Pershing 10. Treaty of Versailles LONG-TERM CAUSES

• Nationalist tensions in Europe MAIN IDEAS • Competition for colonies Use your notes and the information in the chapter to answer • Arms races and militarism the following questions. • Formation of defense alliances World War I Begins (pages 578–586) 1. What were the main reasons for U.S. involvement in the war? IMMEDIATE CAUSES 2. Where did Germany begin its war offensive, and what happened there? • Assassination of Franz Ferdinand American Power Tips the Balance (pages 587–593) • Austria-Hungary’s retaliation against Serbia 3. How did the United States mobilize a strong military during World War I? • Declarations of war between rival 4. What new weapons made fighting in World War I deadlier alliances than fighting in previous wars? • Germany’s invasion of Belgium The War at Home (pages 594–601) 5. What methods did the U.S. government use to sell the war to the nation? 6. What events during the war undermined civil liberties? WORLD WAR I Wilson Fights for Peace (pages 604–609) 7. What were the major effects of the Treaty of Versailles? ✹ 8. How did Wilson’s support for the League of Nations stand in the way of Senate support for the Treaty of Versailles? IMMEDIATE EFFECTS CRITICAL THINKING • Destruction and immense loss of life 1. USING YOUR NOTES In a chart like the one shown, provide • Revolution in Russia causes for the listed effects of World War I. • Social change in United States • Allied victory over Central Powers Causes Effects • Treaty of Versailles U.S. enters World War I • Formation of mandates (temporary colonies) Germany collapses • League of Nations U.S. economy becomes more productive LONG-TERM EFFECTS • Breakup of empires 2. DEVELOPING HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE Between 1914 and • U.S. policy of isolationism 1920, Americans debated the role their country should have • United States’ emergence as global in world affairs. From the events of World War I, what might economic giant Americans have learned about intervention in the affairs of • Rise of militant extremist parties in other nations? Europe • Eruption of World War II 3. INTERPRETING MAPS Look at the maps of Europe before and after World War I (page 606). Describe the changes in national boundaries after the Versailles peace settlement.

612 CHAPTER 19